Yeowomen Edge Tomcats for 11th Victory

Greenville, PA – Oberlin College gutted out their 11th win of the season as they outlasted the Tomcats of Thiel College, 8-7, in a hard-fought road battle.

Offensively the Yeowomen were led by Ilyssa Meyer, Alice Zicht and Sarah Andrews as they each scored two goals. Andrews, a local Oberlin, native added an assist and matched Kate Hanick with a team-best three draw controls.

Oberlin started out hot, scoring the game's first three goals. Zicht got things going with an 8-meter finish, before Hanick deposited her lone score of the game off an assist from Andrews. Meyer would cap the spurt at the 20:47 with a helper coming from Hanick.

After two Thiel goals, Andrews would net her first score of the game to make it a 4-2 Oberlin cushion. Emily Harrigan answered back with another Tomcats' tally, but the Yeowomen would close out the half on a fiery, scoring three goals in the final 2:04 to lead 7-3 at the break. Molly Bloom cashed in a free-position attempt before Meyer and Andrews would add two more in the final minute.

Thiel found its rhythm to start the second half to put the pressure on the Yeowomen as they scored the first three goals of the fame to shrink the deficit to one, 7-6, with just under 15 minutes left to play.

Zicht would add Oberlin's lone finish of the frame at the 8:05 mark to give Oberlin slightly more breathing room, until Kelly Belia's goal at 3:22 cut the OC margin back down to one.

The Tomcats, who never led in the game, had a chance to even the score in the closing moments but Oberlin keeper Madeleine O'Meara denied Casmeir Mahdi's free-position shot with 1:46 remaining to help preserve the win. O'Meara finished the day with seven saves and three grounders.

Jodi Helsel was also simply sensational on defense as she scooped up a game-high five ground balls to go along with a game-best four caused turnovers, one of which came with just 27 seconds remaining.

"Our defense really did a great job in earning this win down the stretch," Head Coach Jacqueline McDevitt said. "We were able to grind this one out in the end, but need to play much more soundly for 60 minutes."

Oberlin returns home to host Ohio Wesleyan University on Sunday afternoon. The opening draw is set for 1:00 p.m.